FRICTION RELATED EXPLICIT CALCULATIONS ON VENDING MACHINE SECTOR

Our day life is characterized by the use of vending machines. We are used to get cans, bottles, snacks, coffee from a big variety of vending machines spread out everywhere. From an engineering point of view what is inside a vending machine is an incredible mess of mechanical and electrical components working together, cooperating, heating, cooling in a lot of different external and internal conditions. This means that the design of a vending machine and of its components has to be robust, reliable and affordable. N&W, as market leader in vending sector (EU and a strong presence WW) and with a 70 people R&D Dep., has faced many problems related to sliding plastic/rubber components in presence of friction issues due to moisture, sugar powder (micro and macro), heat transients and pressure. To do that a testing campaign has been performed in order to achieve all the data needed to characterize friction coefficients relevant for the numerical activities.